Darien looked shocked. "But doesn't any of that bother you? I'd think if it was so hard to be here and take on all this work, it might almost be worth it if you left it all behind and went back to your city," he said.
She shook her head. "I would have had a lot of plans and ideas in my city as well. Basically, I was kicked out because of them. I kept questioning their authority and trying to improve the way things were done, and they didn't appreciate it at all. Here, I'm free to have all the ideas I want, and people are mostly actually happy when I use them. It's much more satisfying than being an unappreciated worker bee; that's for sure."
Darien waved at the vampires and Alabaster as they headed back to the palace together. "Glad you guys have your summons to this big Council meeting thingie, but I'm very happy to stay here," he said. He watched as the others worked together on building a gate to the Shadeworld. It was difficult for anyone besides the royal family to cross between the Original and the Shade, but a gate could be made to connect directly to a royally-approved and sanctioned portal in the kingdom. The problem with gates, of course, was that they took a lot of power and were blasted difficult to build. Not only that, but because they used a redirection instead of directly connecting them, they tended to take forever to actually transport someone. He stood and watched as the group slowly faded over the course of the day until he was finally sure they were all the way gone.
"Taiya," he called out. "I need to talk to you." Darien explained that he wanted to check in on his sister and they gladly set up a scrying sphere connection for him and left him alone in one of the guest tent homes to speak to her.
His eyes widened when he saw the stark room where she was. Darien stuck his head out of the door. "Taiya! I need help."
The girl rolled her eyes and walked over to him. "You seem to be awfully demanding. I've singed a few lads who made too light with my name, and I'm letting you know right now you are walking the knife's edge on that path. I'll have you know I can curse your tongue right off if you keep demanding things of me like I'm some servant." She stopped berating him, though, when she looked into the scrying sphere. Alyss's room still looked like a sleek and modern guest room, but they could easily see the magical currents in the air that allowed some people to enter but didn't let anyone out. The alchemist leaned closer and narrowed her eyes at some invisible detail.
She hollered out the door for a person named Halli to come in. Taiya hardly turned to look when the woman arrived and instead jabbed her finger at the sphere. "Why does this girl carry an imprint of you?"
The woman just shrugged. "I suppose that's because she was visiting our town before and I let her stay the night," Halli said.
The boy gripped her shoulders. "Please, tell me what happened to her," Darien said. "When did you see her last?"
Halli blanked her face. "Well, I suppose a few days ago." She rolled her shoulders, trying to cast off shame that clung like tar. "If you want to know what happened to her, I suppose you'll have to ask Prince Aeron. He was the one who kidnapped her off the street, after all," Halli said.
"Halli, you knew about this?" Taiya asked.
The woman just shrugged. Whatever shame she'd struggled with, Halli now bore hardly any sign of regret. "I knew she was trouble, so I didn't do anything about it. Can you really blame me?"
Taiya sent her out with dire warnings that she would be dealt with later. "It's not so much that I blame her, you understand," Taiya explained as she sent out a call to the warriors of the town. "She did help the girl so I'll forgive her with that. What is upsetting is that no one saw fit to mention to me that we had been caring for a stray urchin seeking out protection here and then just up and let her be kidnapped again. The members of the First Five are supposed to be made aware of all major events in this town, and this definitely counts." She looked up as the warriors started to file into the room.
The summoned warriors stood proudly before them. "Great, glad to see you. I was not informed of an individual kidnapping of one who went here to seek sanctuary." The soldiers stood at attention and made no reaction to the news. "In reaction to this, we now have to do something a little different. Gentlemen, we need an extraction team."
The guards did perk up at this. "Breaking and entering, or blasting through the walls with a take-no-prisoners attitude?" one asked from the front. She looked at him. "I'm expecting we'll likely need you to go in all sneaky like, but once you're there... well,
